Marking of Fuels & Lubricants Protecting Against Counterfeit & Fraud
Marking of Fuels & Lubricants Protecting Against Counterfeit & Fraud
Abstract
TraceTag International Ltd is a leading provider of highly effective security marking and tracing solutions to combat counterfeiting, fraud and parallel trading.
The company launched a new DNA marker concept to support fuel and lubricant security across the marketplace, addressing the supply chain challenges that are being increasingly experienced by fuel and lubricant industry stakeholders:
- fraud, tampering or counterfeit of fuel additive packages
- fraudulent dilution of genuine fuels & lubricants with inferior value products
- use of unapproved base oils for approved lubricant formulations
- re-packaging of an oil, including used oil, into the original packaging
- reduction or even removal/omission of additives required to meet the performance requirements of fuels
Being able to create and add multiple DNA codes to oils and lubricants allows a forensic fingerprint which enables any marked fuel or lubricant sample to be checked for both integrity and identity. The new tracer package, MexTag®, engineered together with the company Mexel Indutries SAS in France, also includes invisible fluorescent tracers, which allow quick field authentication in the field, at any stage of the fuels and lubricants supply chain.
This two-level marking approach facilitates and complements the use of forensic DNA coding for absolute proof of origin or source. The ability to authenticate remains in used oils or lubricants, thanks to the resilience of luminescent marker components.
All in all, the technology allows the implementation of a secure management system ensuring that only genuine and approved fuel and lube products will reach end users.
